![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
witticasterWhat happens when one is terribly bored and has a cell phone.
A thousand pounds to help start this little writing career of yours, read Bogle's note. Tharkay spent it on plane tickets and gave England the finger at takeoff.
-
It took several pints for Will to get it in his head that he should give his handkerchief to Tharkay. "A token of my favour," he said, tucking it in the back pocket of Tharkay's jeans. "I would follow you into battle," Tharkay mumbled in return.
-
Will could not help but wish he had Tharkay's tendency toward the poetic, for he was entirely unsure what word might best fit the first moment after climax, when Tharkay's face slackened and his breathing began to even, and his smile was at its most genuine.
-
What /is/ that on your jacket?" Arkady asked when he spierd Tharkay coming into the office. 'George's breakfast' sounded less than dignified, so Tharkay replied with a flat, "Fine, thank you, how are you?"
-
pralines: Will could not find it disagreeable to be led into the confectioners' shops along tree-lined rues, have sugar-coated almonds purchased in his honour, and then to be fed them between kisses in the shade. It was one of the nicer surprises he had ever received on his birthday, and rather more sentimental than Tharkay usually allowed for.
-
pigeon: "I am going to be a pigeon," George said solemnly, when Will asked him what he'd like to wear to Aunt Jane's fancy dress party. "How, pray, does one dress up as a pigeon?" Will asked him, mostly in hope of a funny remark back; George seemed to have thought this out in advance. "In a pigeon costume." "And where shall we find one of those?" George looked at his father as though he were being quite thick and said, "We ask Tharkay."
-
daft: "Don't be daft, William," Allendale told his son. "The Navy is no place for a little boy. "No," the child agreed cheerfully. "That is why I will go when I'm grown."
-
subtle: He could not be certain whether Tharkay had pressed his body against his back due to the crowding on the train car or if he had a more devious purpose in mind, but Will was quite certain they would have to retire to their hotel the moment the stop came up. All thoughts of dinner had fled his mind.
-
tanager: "And those," Tharkay said, pointing at the brightly coloured birds flying over their heads in the zoo's avian house, "are tanagers. They live in South America." "Have you been there?" Martha asked; the children had learned some time ago that this was a question worth asking of both their parents. Will shook his head no, but Tharkay looked thoughtful. "Not to South America, but to rain forests, yes. In India, especially, but I was in the Carribbean once as well."
-
require: "What are you working on?" Will inquited, looking down at the picture George was colouring. He did not bother to take his attention from his crayons as he replied, "I am planning my castle. I am going to live in it once I am grown, and you and Tharkay and Marthy can visit." "That is most kind of you," Will said.
-
quench: "You are quite certain?" Tharkay asked, watching Will's face closely. Will gave one more expression of consideration, then said, with a small smile, "I did suggest this purposely." Tharkay let out a breath he hadn't noticed holding, felt his smile growing sharper, and said, "Very good." With great care not to tangle any of Will's hair, he wrapped the length of black silk around his head. "I promise you will enjoy this," he murmured over Will's ear.
-
request: "Will," Tharkay said, sprawled over the sofa, and Will hurried out of the bedroom with alacrity. "More coffee?" he asked, but Tharkay's cup was quite full. "No. I am quite sick of coffee," Tharkay mumbled, talking into the sofa cushion, apparently unable to lift his head up. "I am done." Will stared a moment. "Entirely? There are no other--" Tharkay shook his head. "Now, if you would be so kind as to help me to your room, we can take advantage of John's--of John's--" and with that he was asleep. With a great, joyful grin, Will arranged Tharkay more comfortably on the couch and brought him a blanket. They could celebrate the end of term later.
-
qualm: "You met any girls down in Dartmouth, Will?" George asked, around a mouthful of roast goose. "Haven't mentioned anyone since Jane--you've got to be going mad." "George! That's not appropriate table conversation," their mother said. After a moment, she glanced Will's way and added, "But if you /have/ met a nice girl..." Will's thoughts were immediately of Tharkay's dark eyes; his chest clenched. Tempted though he was to say 'yes,' he chose the safer of the available lies and shook his head, eyes fixed quite firmly on his plate.
-
quaint: Tharkay was not convinced of the merits of having a second house by the sea until Will, having sent the children out to play ("but /not/ in the water"), quietly made clear how very agreeable he found the idea of sex with a view of the waterfront.
-
kept: Will was quiet, the first time they visited the other house, despite their being met by what Tharkay imagined must have been a heartening sight for him: an old house on the shore filled brimming with antique furniture and hailed regularly by the ocean's tide. He seemed content to tell Tharkay and the children a few particulars about the place, the number of rooms and the year in which it was built. Martha and George seemed to recognize this mood in their father and declared they would set about choosing their bedrooms at once. Will called to their retreating backs that the room papered in blue was taken, and then he and Tharkay were left standing in the front hallway, amid their overnight bags and the groceries they had picked up in preparation for the weekend's stay.
-
off-topic: This little girl is running along next to her father, who's pointing at the trees from the storm and asking, "Krista, why'd you pull these trees up?" And five little girls in identical sweaters. There are several sets of dressed-alike kids.
names: Krista, Laura, Dora, Kaia
-
court: Will imagines it sometimes, when he is fifteen and sixteen: how he will bring her flowers with carefully written notes, and she will invite him to walk with her in the garden, because she will either find this not old-fashioned at all, or she will not mind.
-
envy: Bogle had to repeat his words three times before Tharkay grasped their meaning, slower and more annoyed each time. "You may have more potatoes after you have eaten your roast beef." Tharkay opened his mouth to explain that he didn't want to eat the meat, for it had made him feel ill last time, but he did not get two syllables out before his father interrupted him. "In English, please." Finding he was not precisely sure how to say it in English, Tharkay pointed at the bowl of mashed potatoes (boring tasting but ultimately inoffensive) and asked, "Please?" Looking oddly apologetic, his father shook his head. Tharkay slumped in his chair, tried to ignore how his older sister was tittering behind her hand at him, and decided he was no longer hungry anyway.
-
crest: They stood together on a ridge overlooking much of the park, now a verdant green from the spring rains. Tharkay's raptor circled above their heads, and Loyal stood at Will's side; it was difficult at that moment not to feel like some wandering gentleman in the sort of novel his mother had enjoyed.
-
roam: It seemed Tharkay could not keep his hands from straying down Will's back as they embraced despite Wil's nervous murmur that there were other people at the train's platform. "Tharkay, please," Will hissed, wanting very much just then to skip the holidays and go back to Tharkay's room. "Other people will--" "See that you're quite mine," Tharkay said smoothly, and clasped his hands just above Will's arse. "If I'm to give you up over the break, I want to have what little fun I may right now." When the train arrived, Tharkay kissed Will quite soundly and said, "Enjoy your relatives." Will found himself quite at a loss how he would do that now, when all his yearning was to the shadow of Tharkay's touch at the base of his spine. It was going to be a long holiday. and I still think this one is terrible.
-
roar: There was a knock at Tharkay's study door, and without turning, he bid the person outside it come in. That was perhaps a poor choice, as the ensuing shrieks very nearly made him start. He glanced over to see the twins on all fours in the doorway, attempting to hold in satisfied giggles. "Did we scare you?" Martha asked, while George announced, "We're lions," and they both roared again. "You are quite terrifying," Tharkay assured them.
-
eloquent: Will realized the folly of his plan the moment he prepared to touch pen to paper. Letter-writing was no difficulty for him, and indeed was a skill any man in the Navy would do well to hone, but the writing of poetry was quite something else. He closed his eyes, trying to draw up Tharkay's image in his mind, and wondered what he might possibly say about him. All his thoughts were far better fit to prose, but he did not care to put down an overly sentimental love letter; the possibility of invoking Tharkay's amusement was not pleasing. Perhaps, he decided, he should read some poetry and draw inspiration that way.
-
essential: "Laurence, there is a pride parade this weekend," Temeraire said over a glass of orange juice. "We should go to it." Will looked up from his newspaper and customary bowl of cereal with a small start. "If you would like to," he said, finally, "I would not be opposed to seeing it; I have never been to one before."
-
reunion: Temeraire was nothing but smiles and stories when he returned to Dartmouth for his Christmas holidays; he was even pleasant to the new addition to the flat, though Will caught him engaged in staring matches with the cat on more than one occasion. By all accounts, he was enjoying uni thoroughly, both the academics and the surplus of pretty young women to look at. Will found himself feeling slightly resigned even as he was relieved at Temeraire's great successes, and he could not help but wonder if Temeraire felt similarly, now that he had returned home to find that Will and Tharkay had managed quite well in his stead.
-
relinquish: It took Tharkay two weeks to realize that hidden in the pile of is dirty clothing was one of Will's shirts. He found it as he was chucking clothes into the machine at the launderette and stopped short at the sight of it. It no longer smelled of Will, after a fortnight mixed in with other shirts, it was far too large for Tharkay to claim as now his, and looking at it made him long for a sharp pair of shears, that he might cut it into pieces. He balled it up, left it on a table, and did not wash his clothes again until he felt certain it would be gone.
-
group: Keeping track of Martha and George at the zoo was normally a trial, for both were prone to dashing off toward their favourite animals without checking to see if their sibling and fathers were behind them. With a half-dozen extra sets of eyes--or nearly so, for Temeraire's devotion seemed primarily toward the young woman on his arm, with whom he was arguing matters of biology--they were far easier to keep proper track of. Jane, John, Iskierka, and Emily's voices joined the chorus of "No, George"s when he attempted to run toward the penguins willy-nilly, with varying degrees of sternness to their tones.
-
cling: Will felt a tug at his scalp and glanced down at the child in his arms. She'd wrapped her fingers quite tightly in his hair at some point while he was not looking and had set quite happily to yanking at it with a delighted grin. "No, Martha," he tried to tell her, while gently unwinding his hair from her grasp.
-
mark: There were few better people to go to than John Granby after a breakup, Will discovered--entirely by accident, for he had not intended to go to anyone.
-
willful: "We should never have taught her the word 'won't,'" Will muttered, and put a hand to his temple. Martha continued to wail, and he could not help but wonder if this was further proof of Tharkay's theory about Murphy's Law, that his daughter would insist on the greatest tantrum of her life so far while they were out with Jane.
-
delicate: In sleep, Horatio's features lost any severity they might otherwise bear--lacking the tautness of intermittent sea-sickness and the austerity that accompanied the orders he barked at the crew, he looked--handsome was the word that came first to Archie, but more than that, he looked content.
-
draft: Will was normally as respectful as possible when it came to Tharkay's schoolwork, not least because Tharkay seemed to prefer to do the bulk of it scant days before the end of term. It was far more difficult to be patient when it was only the second day of September, however, and they had not seen each other in several weeks (as the dregs of Will's holiday had been spent at Wollaton). And yet Tharkay had had only a few words of hello and a well-meant but (in Will's opinion) far too short kiss for him when Will arrived, before stretching back out on his mattress and returning to the article he seemed to be writing out in longhand.
Unable to bear it further than approximately a minute and a half, Will asked, "Pray, what are you working on?" He only just resisted the urge to drape himself over Tharkay entirely, settling for an arm around his shoulders.
"A draft of an article," Tharkay said, not looking up from his yellow pad of paper. "I am taking a class on sports writing this year; I thought I might sketch out some ideas before class began."
"Your classes have not yet begun?" The very idea that Tharkay had begun work not only before the last minute but before it had even been assigned was dumb-founding.
"No," Tharkay responded, setting the paper and pen away. His face might have been utterly deadpan, but there was a smile in his voice. "I have been writing gibberish in hopes of seeing how long it would take for you to go absolutely mad from desire."
It was impossible not to laugh at this, and Tharkay smiled briefly. "It seems I have failed your test," Will answered, tugging Tharkay towards him. "I only arrived two minutes ago."
"Oh, no," Tharkay answered, and leaned in for a long kiss, his hands making quick work of the buttons on Will's shirt. "That means you've passed with flying colours."
-
reach: Tharkay was unsure which was worst for his pounding headache: the crash of metal and plastic coming from the kitchen, Will's heavy footsteps as he ran in there, or George's shriek of delight at the mess he'd apparently made. Laying his forearm over his eyes, he tried once more to sleep.
-
absolve: When William woke once more, the train was still rattling along, though the only light to be had outside came from the full moon. He had apparently outslept Archie, who was sitting up with his battered copy of Hamlet. "Have you been awake long?" William asked, wondering if he had been remiss in his failure to keep him company. (He doubted it; after a seizure, Archie was far more likely to want quiet nearness than active companionship.) "Just long enough to reach the big 'to be or not to be' business," Archie answered, without turning his eyes from the book. "Would you like to hear some?" William allowed that he would, and, quite in reverse of their earlier position, settled his head on Archie's shoulder to hear. Archie flipped pages back, though, and began not with those famed words, but with, "To the celestial and my soul's idol, the most beautified Ophelia," and elbowed William not so subtly in the ribs. He smiled.
-
double: "Yes, two of them," Archie repeated; had the occasion been less sober, he might have rolled his eyes. "That's what 'twins' generally mean, William."
The conversation trailed off there, now that Archie had repeated the highlights of the phone conversation with Horatio, who had heard the news from his friend, the Lady Barbara, who'd had it from Jane Roland, of all people. (Archie was not precisely sure how the gossip chain had come to be in that order, but so it apparently had, and here they were.) And Jane, of course, had heard it from the source, Mr William Laurence, now the apparent father of twins.
"And we're to go to a baby shower?" William asked, heading toward the kitchen and sounding like he had never heard the term before.
Archie took advantage of the sudden excess of space on the sofa and stretched out. "That is what Horatio said. We're to pick out some baby clothes or--whatever babies need--since Laurence didn't have much warning."
"Aren't those--girly sorts of things?" When William returned with his glass of water, he took no care of Archie's feet and sat upon them.
-
zenith: They did not bother with a blanket but merely sat beneath a tree for their picnic, a paper sack of sandwiches before them--and Will had thought perhaps Tharkay would find the idea overly sentimental, but he found he was quite wrong. Judging by how thoroughly the food had been forgotten in favour of a long kiss in the sunlight, filtering through the leaves, Tharkay found the outing entirely agreeable.
-
dilution: Sebastian bore so thoroughly guilty an expression, seated as he was in the center of a pile of books and torn pages, when William found him that he could not suppress entirely the desire to laugh. He picked the toddler up and attempted to extricate a page of onionskin paper from his fat little fist. "Your daddy is going to be very angry when he sees this," William told him in, the sort of voice Archie read the boy stories in. "Very angry at both of us. But I suppose that is what he gets for reading you Titus Andronicus."
-
root: Will looked at the hardcover book which was his Christmas present with some species of skepticism; he read well enough to know that he was not especially fond of books, especially when compared to the possibilities of playing outside. He knew what was expected of him, however, and dutifully said, "Thank you, Aunt Caroline."
"You are welcome, Will," she answered. "Every young boy ought to have some adventure stories to read."
He nodded and opened the book with some trepidation, while attention shifted to the jumper Henry was unwrapping. The title was good, at least--perhaps Fix Bay'nets would prove of interest.
-
Aphrodisiacs, Will realized, were hardly necessary with Tharkay's weight settled tantalizingly atop his hips. Tharkay had grown quite adept at the buttons of Will's collared shirts long ago; Will's chest was bare, the fabric lying useless on his arms, before he had time to convey his thoughts to the man straddling him.
-
beam: "Tharkay," said Will, trying to seem far more nonchalant than he felt, "there's a--a dance, in a few weeks, at school."
"Oh," Tharkay replied, picking at a bit of grass beneath the tree--their tree, Will liked to think of it--under which they currently sat. He was immediately envious of Tharkay's apparent disinterest in the conversation. "Are you going with John and Jane, or did John and Susan make up again?"
"Actually, I had thought to invite you." That got Tharkay's attention, and Will hurriedly added, "I mean, we'll have to go as mates--Mum's chaperoning--but afterward, we could--"
"Have an afterparty at Jane's."
"Exactly. So--d'you want to?"
The smile on Tharkay's face, at first broad and then stifled as best he could, answered the question as clearly as the kiss he gave Will a moment later.
-
roost: By the time James returned to active duty, his home was near-entirely unpacked and in order, his wife was on first-name terms with the neighbourhood butcher, and together, and they had spent enough time together that he felt quite certain marrying was one the best choices he had ever made.
"I am sorry to leave you," he told her, when necessity dictated he must go, "but at least I shall know you are settled in here."
Beth nodded. "You needn't worry for me, James; I am quite happy here, and this will hardly be the longest we've been apart."
"It was easier to tell you good-bye when we were only friends," he said wryly, and bent his head to kiss her.
-
riot:
"We've raised a peacock," William muttered, upon seeing his son's latest makeup experiment.
Archie elbowed him in the stomach. "What your father means is, that's very...bright. Are purple and green big this season?"
"No," answered Sebastian, rolling his eyes beneath a generous coating of neon-bright eyeshadow. "Everyone's wild about teal. But I like lime green."
"And you look very fine in it," William finally allowed, after Archie looked at him in the significant sort of way that clearly stated he was looking at another elbow in his ribs if he didn't say something. And so he lied, with a finesse born of telling his younger sisters the same things when they were teens. "As long as you're happy, Sebastian."
Sebastian's lip curled. "That means you hate it, doesn't it."
"I don't hate it," William answered, feeling suddenly on the defensive. Archie's glaring really was not helping. "If you like it, you can wear it all you like, only I think it clashes with your hair. Is that what you want to hear?"
"Yes," replied Sebastian, looking not hurt but amused, "since it's the truth."
-
cross: Martha heard the patter of footsteps before she saw her young charge, hair mussed and eyes wild, running into the lounge and clambering up onto the sofa next to her. Muting the telly, she asked, "What's wrong, Sebastian?"
"Had a bad dream," he answered, and inched closer to her. When Martha held out her arms out for a hug, he dove toward her and curled up in a lump.
"It's all right, it's all right," she murmured, stroking his back. "Do you want to tell me about it?"
"Daddy went away, and--and there was a monster--and--" Whatever else, half-remembered or too frightening to share, he stopped talking. Martha took this as her cue to continue promising that it wasn't real, his dads would be home when he woke up in the morning, and everything would be all right.
When he looked faintly less wild-eyed from the experience, she pressed the all-important question. "Do you want to go back to bed now?"
He shook his head, and belatedly, she realized that giving him an option probably wasn't one of her better ideas. "Can I watch the telly with you?"
Martha bit her lip, wondering what George would do. As she was hardly about to call her brother for child-minding advice, though (for she still half-intended to prove she was the more capable child-minder of the two and thereby improve her own income), she decided to hope his parents wouldn't be too displeased if he was up past his bedtime. "Well...all right. But just 'til the end of this programme, and if they say any bad words, you're not to repeat them, all right?"
Sebastian nodded very seriously and, after she turned the volume up again, asked, "What's going on?"
"Well, it's called RuPaul's Drag Race. It's--" and she tried to think of the best way to explain the concept to a small child. "It's a contest--see which guy makes the best lady."
"Oh." Apparently accepting this explanation without further question, he was quiet at her side for the rest of the programme; at the end, she glanced over only to find he'd fallen asleep.
-
bring: "Daddy, who's going to put the star on top?" asked Martha, sounding dangerously casual as she picked up the tree topper.
"We haven't even got the lights on yet," answered Will, who was still busy trying to find a string of fairy lights that hadn't burnt out in the year since last Christmas. "Let's decide that when the tree is decorated."
"Martha got to do it last year," George said, plugging in yet another string of lights at Will's nod--one which, thankfully, still worked. Will unplugged them and began to circle the Christmas tree with them, draping them over the branches. "It's my turn."
"I did not! You did!"
"Nuh-uh, Daddy let you do it. I want to put the star on top this year." The two of them appeared ready to come to blows, having abandoned sorting out the mix of balls, souvenir and commemorative ornaments, and lopsided handmade baubles from school (Tharkay was taking care of the glass ornaments, which neither he nor Will trusted in the hands of a pair of seven year olds) in favour of glaring at each other and bickering in increasingly loud voices.
Before they could do any real damage, to the tree, decorations, or each other, Will had a hand set on each of their shoulders; they looked up at him indignantly. Finding he couldn't actually remember how the star came to sit on the top of the tree last year, he settled the matter by saying, "If you are going to fight, neither of you will get to put the star on top."
The outraged looks he received in return were indication enough that he hadn't managed to satisfy either of them, though as that was not precisely his aim at the moment, Will didn't care overly. Before they could burst out with more than a "But that's not fair--" Will looked over at his husband. "Tharkay, would you mind coming here for a moment?"
Tharkay shrugged, but set aside the delicate ornaments Will's mum continued to give them each Christmas and did as he was asked. "Are we going to have to stage a rock, paper, scissors match to solve this problem?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, I have a solution in mind," Will said, unable to keep from smiling. Taking the star from Martha, he handed it to Tharkay. "It is clearly your turn to put the star on top."
The corner of Tharkay's lip curled up. "But however will I reach the top of the tree?" he asked, the very picture of deadpan. "You insisted on getting one taller than me."
Will answered not in words but in actions, his smile broadening as he scooped Tharkay up in his arms and took a step closer to the tree. "Can you reach from here?"
Stretching an arm out to the top of the pine tree, Tharkay placed the star. "It seems I can."
"There," Will said, looking down at the twins. "Is that fair?"
"I guess," said Martha.
"Can you lift us up next?" asked George.
"If you say 'please,'" said Tharkay, and turned his head to kiss Will soundly.
A thousand pounds to help start this little writing career of yours, read Bogle's note. Tharkay spent it on plane tickets and gave England the finger at takeoff.
-
It took several pints for Will to get it in his head that he should give his handkerchief to Tharkay. "A token of my favour," he said, tucking it in the back pocket of Tharkay's jeans. "I would follow you into battle," Tharkay mumbled in return.
-
Will could not help but wish he had Tharkay's tendency toward the poetic, for he was entirely unsure what word might best fit the first moment after climax, when Tharkay's face slackened and his breathing began to even, and his smile was at its most genuine.
-
What /is/ that on your jacket?" Arkady asked when he spierd Tharkay coming into the office. 'George's breakfast' sounded less than dignified, so Tharkay replied with a flat, "Fine, thank you, how are you?"
-
pralines: Will could not find it disagreeable to be led into the confectioners' shops along tree-lined rues, have sugar-coated almonds purchased in his honour, and then to be fed them between kisses in the shade. It was one of the nicer surprises he had ever received on his birthday, and rather more sentimental than Tharkay usually allowed for.
-
pigeon: "I am going to be a pigeon," George said solemnly, when Will asked him what he'd like to wear to Aunt Jane's fancy dress party. "How, pray, does one dress up as a pigeon?" Will asked him, mostly in hope of a funny remark back; George seemed to have thought this out in advance. "In a pigeon costume." "And where shall we find one of those?" George looked at his father as though he were being quite thick and said, "We ask Tharkay."
-
daft: "Don't be daft, William," Allendale told his son. "The Navy is no place for a little boy. "No," the child agreed cheerfully. "That is why I will go when I'm grown."
-
subtle: He could not be certain whether Tharkay had pressed his body against his back due to the crowding on the train car or if he had a more devious purpose in mind, but Will was quite certain they would have to retire to their hotel the moment the stop came up. All thoughts of dinner had fled his mind.
-
tanager: "And those," Tharkay said, pointing at the brightly coloured birds flying over their heads in the zoo's avian house, "are tanagers. They live in South America." "Have you been there?" Martha asked; the children had learned some time ago that this was a question worth asking of both their parents. Will shook his head no, but Tharkay looked thoughtful. "Not to South America, but to rain forests, yes. In India, especially, but I was in the Carribbean once as well."
-
require: "What are you working on?" Will inquited, looking down at the picture George was colouring. He did not bother to take his attention from his crayons as he replied, "I am planning my castle. I am going to live in it once I am grown, and you and Tharkay and Marthy can visit." "That is most kind of you," Will said.
-
quench: "You are quite certain?" Tharkay asked, watching Will's face closely. Will gave one more expression of consideration, then said, with a small smile, "I did suggest this purposely." Tharkay let out a breath he hadn't noticed holding, felt his smile growing sharper, and said, "Very good." With great care not to tangle any of Will's hair, he wrapped the length of black silk around his head. "I promise you will enjoy this," he murmured over Will's ear.
-
request: "Will," Tharkay said, sprawled over the sofa, and Will hurried out of the bedroom with alacrity. "More coffee?" he asked, but Tharkay's cup was quite full. "No. I am quite sick of coffee," Tharkay mumbled, talking into the sofa cushion, apparently unable to lift his head up. "I am done." Will stared a moment. "Entirely? There are no other--" Tharkay shook his head. "Now, if you would be so kind as to help me to your room, we can take advantage of John's--of John's--" and with that he was asleep. With a great, joyful grin, Will arranged Tharkay more comfortably on the couch and brought him a blanket. They could celebrate the end of term later.
-
qualm: "You met any girls down in Dartmouth, Will?" George asked, around a mouthful of roast goose. "Haven't mentioned anyone since Jane--you've got to be going mad." "George! That's not appropriate table conversation," their mother said. After a moment, she glanced Will's way and added, "But if you /have/ met a nice girl..." Will's thoughts were immediately of Tharkay's dark eyes; his chest clenched. Tempted though he was to say 'yes,' he chose the safer of the available lies and shook his head, eyes fixed quite firmly on his plate.
-
quaint: Tharkay was not convinced of the merits of having a second house by the sea until Will, having sent the children out to play ("but /not/ in the water"), quietly made clear how very agreeable he found the idea of sex with a view of the waterfront.
-
kept: Will was quiet, the first time they visited the other house, despite their being met by what Tharkay imagined must have been a heartening sight for him: an old house on the shore filled brimming with antique furniture and hailed regularly by the ocean's tide. He seemed content to tell Tharkay and the children a few particulars about the place, the number of rooms and the year in which it was built. Martha and George seemed to recognize this mood in their father and declared they would set about choosing their bedrooms at once. Will called to their retreating backs that the room papered in blue was taken, and then he and Tharkay were left standing in the front hallway, amid their overnight bags and the groceries they had picked up in preparation for the weekend's stay.
-
off-topic: This little girl is running along next to her father, who's pointing at the trees from the storm and asking, "Krista, why'd you pull these trees up?" And five little girls in identical sweaters. There are several sets of dressed-alike kids.
names: Krista, Laura, Dora, Kaia
-
court: Will imagines it sometimes, when he is fifteen and sixteen: how he will bring her flowers with carefully written notes, and she will invite him to walk with her in the garden, because she will either find this not old-fashioned at all, or she will not mind.
-
envy: Bogle had to repeat his words three times before Tharkay grasped their meaning, slower and more annoyed each time. "You may have more potatoes after you have eaten your roast beef." Tharkay opened his mouth to explain that he didn't want to eat the meat, for it had made him feel ill last time, but he did not get two syllables out before his father interrupted him. "In English, please." Finding he was not precisely sure how to say it in English, Tharkay pointed at the bowl of mashed potatoes (boring tasting but ultimately inoffensive) and asked, "Please?" Looking oddly apologetic, his father shook his head. Tharkay slumped in his chair, tried to ignore how his older sister was tittering behind her hand at him, and decided he was no longer hungry anyway.
-
crest: They stood together on a ridge overlooking much of the park, now a verdant green from the spring rains. Tharkay's raptor circled above their heads, and Loyal stood at Will's side; it was difficult at that moment not to feel like some wandering gentleman in the sort of novel his mother had enjoyed.
-
roam: It seemed Tharkay could not keep his hands from straying down Will's back as they embraced despite Wil's nervous murmur that there were other people at the train's platform. "Tharkay, please," Will hissed, wanting very much just then to skip the holidays and go back to Tharkay's room. "Other people will--" "See that you're quite mine," Tharkay said smoothly, and clasped his hands just above Will's arse. "If I'm to give you up over the break, I want to have what little fun I may right now." When the train arrived, Tharkay kissed Will quite soundly and said, "Enjoy your relatives." Will found himself quite at a loss how he would do that now, when all his yearning was to the shadow of Tharkay's touch at the base of his spine. It was going to be a long holiday. and I still think this one is terrible.
-
roar: There was a knock at Tharkay's study door, and without turning, he bid the person outside it come in. That was perhaps a poor choice, as the ensuing shrieks very nearly made him start. He glanced over to see the twins on all fours in the doorway, attempting to hold in satisfied giggles. "Did we scare you?" Martha asked, while George announced, "We're lions," and they both roared again. "You are quite terrifying," Tharkay assured them.
-
eloquent: Will realized the folly of his plan the moment he prepared to touch pen to paper. Letter-writing was no difficulty for him, and indeed was a skill any man in the Navy would do well to hone, but the writing of poetry was quite something else. He closed his eyes, trying to draw up Tharkay's image in his mind, and wondered what he might possibly say about him. All his thoughts were far better fit to prose, but he did not care to put down an overly sentimental love letter; the possibility of invoking Tharkay's amusement was not pleasing. Perhaps, he decided, he should read some poetry and draw inspiration that way.
-
essential: "Laurence, there is a pride parade this weekend," Temeraire said over a glass of orange juice. "We should go to it." Will looked up from his newspaper and customary bowl of cereal with a small start. "If you would like to," he said, finally, "I would not be opposed to seeing it; I have never been to one before."
-
reunion: Temeraire was nothing but smiles and stories when he returned to Dartmouth for his Christmas holidays; he was even pleasant to the new addition to the flat, though Will caught him engaged in staring matches with the cat on more than one occasion. By all accounts, he was enjoying uni thoroughly, both the academics and the surplus of pretty young women to look at. Will found himself feeling slightly resigned even as he was relieved at Temeraire's great successes, and he could not help but wonder if Temeraire felt similarly, now that he had returned home to find that Will and Tharkay had managed quite well in his stead.
-
relinquish: It took Tharkay two weeks to realize that hidden in the pile of is dirty clothing was one of Will's shirts. He found it as he was chucking clothes into the machine at the launderette and stopped short at the sight of it. It no longer smelled of Will, after a fortnight mixed in with other shirts, it was far too large for Tharkay to claim as now his, and looking at it made him long for a sharp pair of shears, that he might cut it into pieces. He balled it up, left it on a table, and did not wash his clothes again until he felt certain it would be gone.
-
group: Keeping track of Martha and George at the zoo was normally a trial, for both were prone to dashing off toward their favourite animals without checking to see if their sibling and fathers were behind them. With a half-dozen extra sets of eyes--or nearly so, for Temeraire's devotion seemed primarily toward the young woman on his arm, with whom he was arguing matters of biology--they were far easier to keep proper track of. Jane, John, Iskierka, and Emily's voices joined the chorus of "No, George"s when he attempted to run toward the penguins willy-nilly, with varying degrees of sternness to their tones.
-
cling: Will felt a tug at his scalp and glanced down at the child in his arms. She'd wrapped her fingers quite tightly in his hair at some point while he was not looking and had set quite happily to yanking at it with a delighted grin. "No, Martha," he tried to tell her, while gently unwinding his hair from her grasp.
-
mark: There were few better people to go to than John Granby after a breakup, Will discovered--entirely by accident, for he had not intended to go to anyone.
-
willful: "We should never have taught her the word 'won't,'" Will muttered, and put a hand to his temple. Martha continued to wail, and he could not help but wonder if this was further proof of Tharkay's theory about Murphy's Law, that his daughter would insist on the greatest tantrum of her life so far while they were out with Jane.
-
delicate: In sleep, Horatio's features lost any severity they might otherwise bear--lacking the tautness of intermittent sea-sickness and the austerity that accompanied the orders he barked at the crew, he looked--handsome was the word that came first to Archie, but more than that, he looked content.
-
draft: Will was normally as respectful as possible when it came to Tharkay's schoolwork, not least because Tharkay seemed to prefer to do the bulk of it scant days before the end of term. It was far more difficult to be patient when it was only the second day of September, however, and they had not seen each other in several weeks (as the dregs of Will's holiday had been spent at Wollaton). And yet Tharkay had had only a few words of hello and a well-meant but (in Will's opinion) far too short kiss for him when Will arrived, before stretching back out on his mattress and returning to the article he seemed to be writing out in longhand.
Unable to bear it further than approximately a minute and a half, Will asked, "Pray, what are you working on?" He only just resisted the urge to drape himself over Tharkay entirely, settling for an arm around his shoulders.
"A draft of an article," Tharkay said, not looking up from his yellow pad of paper. "I am taking a class on sports writing this year; I thought I might sketch out some ideas before class began."
"Your classes have not yet begun?" The very idea that Tharkay had begun work not only before the last minute but before it had even been assigned was dumb-founding.
"No," Tharkay responded, setting the paper and pen away. His face might have been utterly deadpan, but there was a smile in his voice. "I have been writing gibberish in hopes of seeing how long it would take for you to go absolutely mad from desire."
It was impossible not to laugh at this, and Tharkay smiled briefly. "It seems I have failed your test," Will answered, tugging Tharkay towards him. "I only arrived two minutes ago."
"Oh, no," Tharkay answered, and leaned in for a long kiss, his hands making quick work of the buttons on Will's shirt. "That means you've passed with flying colours."
-
reach: Tharkay was unsure which was worst for his pounding headache: the crash of metal and plastic coming from the kitchen, Will's heavy footsteps as he ran in there, or George's shriek of delight at the mess he'd apparently made. Laying his forearm over his eyes, he tried once more to sleep.
-
absolve: When William woke once more, the train was still rattling along, though the only light to be had outside came from the full moon. He had apparently outslept Archie, who was sitting up with his battered copy of Hamlet. "Have you been awake long?" William asked, wondering if he had been remiss in his failure to keep him company. (He doubted it; after a seizure, Archie was far more likely to want quiet nearness than active companionship.) "Just long enough to reach the big 'to be or not to be' business," Archie answered, without turning his eyes from the book. "Would you like to hear some?" William allowed that he would, and, quite in reverse of their earlier position, settled his head on Archie's shoulder to hear. Archie flipped pages back, though, and began not with those famed words, but with, "To the celestial and my soul's idol, the most beautified Ophelia," and elbowed William not so subtly in the ribs. He smiled.
-
double: "Yes, two of them," Archie repeated; had the occasion been less sober, he might have rolled his eyes. "That's what 'twins' generally mean, William."
The conversation trailed off there, now that Archie had repeated the highlights of the phone conversation with Horatio, who had heard the news from his friend, the Lady Barbara, who'd had it from Jane Roland, of all people. (Archie was not precisely sure how the gossip chain had come to be in that order, but so it apparently had, and here they were.) And Jane, of course, had heard it from the source, Mr William Laurence, now the apparent father of twins.
"And we're to go to a baby shower?" William asked, heading toward the kitchen and sounding like he had never heard the term before.
Archie took advantage of the sudden excess of space on the sofa and stretched out. "That is what Horatio said. We're to pick out some baby clothes or--whatever babies need--since Laurence didn't have much warning."
"Aren't those--girly sorts of things?" When William returned with his glass of water, he took no care of Archie's feet and sat upon them.
-
zenith: They did not bother with a blanket but merely sat beneath a tree for their picnic, a paper sack of sandwiches before them--and Will had thought perhaps Tharkay would find the idea overly sentimental, but he found he was quite wrong. Judging by how thoroughly the food had been forgotten in favour of a long kiss in the sunlight, filtering through the leaves, Tharkay found the outing entirely agreeable.
-
dilution: Sebastian bore so thoroughly guilty an expression, seated as he was in the center of a pile of books and torn pages, when William found him that he could not suppress entirely the desire to laugh. He picked the toddler up and attempted to extricate a page of onionskin paper from his fat little fist. "Your daddy is going to be very angry when he sees this," William told him in, the sort of voice Archie read the boy stories in. "Very angry at both of us. But I suppose that is what he gets for reading you Titus Andronicus."
-
root: Will looked at the hardcover book which was his Christmas present with some species of skepticism; he read well enough to know that he was not especially fond of books, especially when compared to the possibilities of playing outside. He knew what was expected of him, however, and dutifully said, "Thank you, Aunt Caroline."
"You are welcome, Will," she answered. "Every young boy ought to have some adventure stories to read."
He nodded and opened the book with some trepidation, while attention shifted to the jumper Henry was unwrapping. The title was good, at least--perhaps Fix Bay'nets would prove of interest.
-
Aphrodisiacs, Will realized, were hardly necessary with Tharkay's weight settled tantalizingly atop his hips. Tharkay had grown quite adept at the buttons of Will's collared shirts long ago; Will's chest was bare, the fabric lying useless on his arms, before he had time to convey his thoughts to the man straddling him.
-
beam: "Tharkay," said Will, trying to seem far more nonchalant than he felt, "there's a--a dance, in a few weeks, at school."
"Oh," Tharkay replied, picking at a bit of grass beneath the tree--their tree, Will liked to think of it--under which they currently sat. He was immediately envious of Tharkay's apparent disinterest in the conversation. "Are you going with John and Jane, or did John and Susan make up again?"
"Actually, I had thought to invite you." That got Tharkay's attention, and Will hurriedly added, "I mean, we'll have to go as mates--Mum's chaperoning--but afterward, we could--"
"Have an afterparty at Jane's."
"Exactly. So--d'you want to?"
The smile on Tharkay's face, at first broad and then stifled as best he could, answered the question as clearly as the kiss he gave Will a moment later.
-
roost: By the time James returned to active duty, his home was near-entirely unpacked and in order, his wife was on first-name terms with the neighbourhood butcher, and together, and they had spent enough time together that he felt quite certain marrying was one the best choices he had ever made.
"I am sorry to leave you," he told her, when necessity dictated he must go, "but at least I shall know you are settled in here."
Beth nodded. "You needn't worry for me, James; I am quite happy here, and this will hardly be the longest we've been apart."
"It was easier to tell you good-bye when we were only friends," he said wryly, and bent his head to kiss her.
-
riot:
"We've raised a peacock," William muttered, upon seeing his son's latest makeup experiment.
Archie elbowed him in the stomach. "What your father means is, that's very...bright. Are purple and green big this season?"
"No," answered Sebastian, rolling his eyes beneath a generous coating of neon-bright eyeshadow. "Everyone's wild about teal. But I like lime green."
"And you look very fine in it," William finally allowed, after Archie looked at him in the significant sort of way that clearly stated he was looking at another elbow in his ribs if he didn't say something. And so he lied, with a finesse born of telling his younger sisters the same things when they were teens. "As long as you're happy, Sebastian."
Sebastian's lip curled. "That means you hate it, doesn't it."
"I don't hate it," William answered, feeling suddenly on the defensive. Archie's glaring really was not helping. "If you like it, you can wear it all you like, only I think it clashes with your hair. Is that what you want to hear?"
"Yes," replied Sebastian, looking not hurt but amused, "since it's the truth."
-
cross: Martha heard the patter of footsteps before she saw her young charge, hair mussed and eyes wild, running into the lounge and clambering up onto the sofa next to her. Muting the telly, she asked, "What's wrong, Sebastian?"
"Had a bad dream," he answered, and inched closer to her. When Martha held out her arms out for a hug, he dove toward her and curled up in a lump.
"It's all right, it's all right," she murmured, stroking his back. "Do you want to tell me about it?"
"Daddy went away, and--and there was a monster--and--" Whatever else, half-remembered or too frightening to share, he stopped talking. Martha took this as her cue to continue promising that it wasn't real, his dads would be home when he woke up in the morning, and everything would be all right.
When he looked faintly less wild-eyed from the experience, she pressed the all-important question. "Do you want to go back to bed now?"
He shook his head, and belatedly, she realized that giving him an option probably wasn't one of her better ideas. "Can I watch the telly with you?"
Martha bit her lip, wondering what George would do. As she was hardly about to call her brother for child-minding advice, though (for she still half-intended to prove she was the more capable child-minder of the two and thereby improve her own income), she decided to hope his parents wouldn't be too displeased if he was up past his bedtime. "Well...all right. But just 'til the end of this programme, and if they say any bad words, you're not to repeat them, all right?"
Sebastian nodded very seriously and, after she turned the volume up again, asked, "What's going on?"
"Well, it's called RuPaul's Drag Race. It's--" and she tried to think of the best way to explain the concept to a small child. "It's a contest--see which guy makes the best lady."
"Oh." Apparently accepting this explanation without further question, he was quiet at her side for the rest of the programme; at the end, she glanced over only to find he'd fallen asleep.
-
bring: "Daddy, who's going to put the star on top?" asked Martha, sounding dangerously casual as she picked up the tree topper.
"We haven't even got the lights on yet," answered Will, who was still busy trying to find a string of fairy lights that hadn't burnt out in the year since last Christmas. "Let's decide that when the tree is decorated."
"Martha got to do it last year," George said, plugging in yet another string of lights at Will's nod--one which, thankfully, still worked. Will unplugged them and began to circle the Christmas tree with them, draping them over the branches. "It's my turn."
"I did not! You did!"
"Nuh-uh, Daddy let you do it. I want to put the star on top this year." The two of them appeared ready to come to blows, having abandoned sorting out the mix of balls, souvenir and commemorative ornaments, and lopsided handmade baubles from school (Tharkay was taking care of the glass ornaments, which neither he nor Will trusted in the hands of a pair of seven year olds) in favour of glaring at each other and bickering in increasingly loud voices.
Before they could do any real damage, to the tree, decorations, or each other, Will had a hand set on each of their shoulders; they looked up at him indignantly. Finding he couldn't actually remember how the star came to sit on the top of the tree last year, he settled the matter by saying, "If you are going to fight, neither of you will get to put the star on top."
The outraged looks he received in return were indication enough that he hadn't managed to satisfy either of them, though as that was not precisely his aim at the moment, Will didn't care overly. Before they could burst out with more than a "But that's not fair--" Will looked over at his husband. "Tharkay, would you mind coming here for a moment?"
Tharkay shrugged, but set aside the delicate ornaments Will's mum continued to give them each Christmas and did as he was asked. "Are we going to have to stage a rock, paper, scissors match to solve this problem?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, I have a solution in mind," Will said, unable to keep from smiling. Taking the star from Martha, he handed it to Tharkay. "It is clearly your turn to put the star on top."
The corner of Tharkay's lip curled up. "But however will I reach the top of the tree?" he asked, the very picture of deadpan. "You insisted on getting one taller than me."
Will answered not in words but in actions, his smile broadening as he scooped Tharkay up in his arms and took a step closer to the tree. "Can you reach from here?"
Stretching an arm out to the top of the pine tree, Tharkay placed the star. "It seems I can."
"There," Will said, looking down at the twins. "Is that fair?"
"I guess," said Martha.
"Can you lift us up next?" asked George.
"If you say 'please,'" said Tharkay, and turned his head to kiss Will soundly.
